History of Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey
published in Heroes of the Fiery Cross at Zarephath, New Jersey by the Pillar of Fire Church]] illustration]] The Ku Klux Klan has had a history in the U.S. state of New Jersey since the early part of the 1920s. The Klan was in the area around Trenton and Camden and had a presence in several of the state's northern counties, but its largest presence was in Monmouth County, New Jersey where it had a resort at Wall Township, New Jersey's Camp Evans. History The first appearance of the KKK in New Jersey was in 1921, where it had crossed over from New York and Pennsylvania. An attorney named Arthur H. Bell was the state's first Grand Dragon, and continued serving in that post until the Ku Klux Klan was disbanded in 1944. In 1922 George W. Apgar was the King Kleagle just outside Newark, New Jersey. In 1923, the Klan provided funding for Alma White College in Zarephath, New Jersey. It became "the second institution in the north avowedly run by the Ku Klux Klan to further its aims and principles." Alma White said that the Klan philosophy "will sweep through the intellectual student classes as through the masses of the people." At that time, the Pillar of Fire was publishing the pro-KKK monthly periodical The Good Citizen. On May 3, 1923 12,000 people attended a Klan meeting in Bound Brook, New Jersey. The speakers then held a meeting at the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey. On May 10, 1923 the Klan assaulted a boy, accusing him of stealing $50 from his mother, Bessie Titus, in West Belmar, New Jersey. In 1925 Alma White published The Ku Klux Klan In Prophecy in Zarephath, New Jersey at the Pillar of Fire Church printing press. She writes: "The unrepentant Hebrew is everywhere among us today as the strong ally of Roman Catholicism. ... To think of our Hebrew friends with their millions in gold and silver aiding the Pope in his aspirations for world supremacy, is almost beyond the grasp of ... The Jews in New York City openly boast that they have the money and Rome the power, and that if they decide to rule the city and state, ..." In 1926, Bell headed a group that converted Wall Township, New Jersey's Camp Evans into a Klan resort. The property was formerly known as Marconi Station. The resort was only open to officials and members of the New Jersey Realm of the Klan. on Shark River. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30A11FA35591B7A93C2AB178DD85F428285F9 |quote=Establishment of a Summer resort for the Ku Klux Klan on the Shark River at New Bedford is being fostered by officials of the New Jersey Realm of the Klan. The project is in its first stages, but tents and bungalows have been erected. Only members of the Klan or affiliated organizations are admitted to the reservation, which until a year ago was owned by the Radio Corporation of America and was known as the Marconi Radio Station. The property was purchased by the Monmouth Pleasure Club, a holding company of Klansmen, and is now State headquarters of the organization. The Klan is to give demonstrations of its strength on July 3, 4 and 5, and on the last day will parade along the Ocean Boulevard of northern seashore resorts. |publisher=New York Times |date=June 20, 1926 |accessdate=2008-06-14 }} In 1926 Alma White published Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty. She writes: "I believe in white supremacy." In 1928 Alma White published Heroes of the Fiery Cross. She writes: "The Jews are as unrelenting now as they were two thousand years ago." In 1940, James A. Colescott had Bell removed as head of the Klan of New Jersey. Bell was also vice president of the German American Bund. The ouster was from a joint meeting arranged by Bell between the Klan and the German-American Bund at the Bund's Camp Nordlund, near Andover, New Jersey. In 1943 Alma White of the Pillar of Fire Church reprints her pro Klan essays and sermons as Guardians of Liberty. By 1944 the national organization was closed by a tax lien form the Internal Revenue Service. Local chapters closed over the following years. People *Arthur Hornbui Bell, was the Grand Dragon. *Alma White was a local preacher that supported the Klan in her publications and sermons. *A. M. Young, a reverend and Grand Kaliff. *George W. Apgar was the King Kleagle. Klan friendly churches Several New Jersey churches welcomed the Klan: *Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey *Third Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey *Grace Methodist Church in Kearney, New Jersey *First Baptist Church in Bayonne, New Jersey *Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church in Paterson, New Jersey *Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey *Colonial United Methodist Church in Oxford, New Jersey References and notes See also * Ku Klux Klan in Inglewood, California * Indiana Klan * Tulsa race riot * The Devil's Tree Ku Klux Klan New Jersey Category:Zarephath, New Jersey